Letters to His Beloved: For the Single Girls Navigating Their Way Through This Ordained Season

By Alyssa Phillips

As if you were opening a handmade card from a beloved sister, Letters to His Beloved, by author Alyssa Phillips, speaks to the depths of your heart. The words filling the pages offer a simple collection of letters written from the heart of a single girl who wants to extend the encouragement and truths she has been given.

Some letters in this book were written in times of grief and sorrow. Others were penned in the moments of loneliness and longing all single girls experience in the quiet of this season of life. Each truth, insight, and encouragement is God-breathed.

These letters come from God and spring from a fellow sister’s experience and relationship with the one who calls her beloved. She shares them because she wants every single girl to know they are loved by God, and this season is not one to merely pass through, but to live abundantly in. Letters to His Beloved speaks to you for your good and for His glory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973683131

Alyssa Phillips

Alyssa Phillips is just a small town girl, living in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going anywhere. Wait...no, that's Journey. Alyssa Phillips is a young writer. She lives on the Gulf Coast. This is her first novel.

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Copyright © 2020 Alyssa Phillips.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8312-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8311-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8313-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020900361

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/13/2020

Contents

Purpose

It’s Okay to

Cry

You Matter

I’m Your Personal Cheerleader

Choose the Worthy Road

Motive

Settling

Post Script

You Have

Permission to Give Up

Come to Me

Only Jesus

The Storms Are Rough Sometimes

Post Script

To Genuinely Know Him

It’s Time to Live and Live Abundantly

Lacking Nothing

Let’s Be Encouraged

Tear Down Our Idols

Jesus,

Take the Wheel

Sweet Goodbyes

This collection of letters is

dedicated to Jesus.

These words are His.

My story is His.

Your story is His.

The beauty of this life is His.

Dear Single Girl,

I don’t know where this letter finds you. I don’t know you personally. I don’t know the precious details that make up your beautiful self. But I know the desire of your heart.

The fact that you are reading this means you don’t have a man by your side. You may have just lost him. Your heart might be shattered into tiny pieces that consist of all your hopes and dreams with him, the past plans for your future life together, and the memories of him and his sweet smile. My teary-eyed single girl, my heart hurts for your heart, and I wish I could make the aching less sharp. But I alone cannot.

You may be between guys right now. You may actually always be between a relationship and a fling. You want so badly to be loved and to be some man’s girl, but it never quite works out. To you, my short-lived single girl, please slow down. Wait to be pursued, and don’t ever doubt your worth. You are beautiful.

You may have always been single and have yet to find that right guy. You yearn so badly to have what all the girls around you have, but it never seems to come. Your independence has been forced upon you, and you rock that life, but deep down you don’t want to have to be independent. You want to be taken care of. To you, my sassy and confident single girl, I see behind the strength. I see the vulnerability. I see the hopeless gaze. Hang on and don’t give up hope. Your story isn’t finished.

Whoever you are, I hear you. I see you in the grocery store with your cute and casual outfit and your shiny lip gloss, perusing the meals for one section. I see you at the gym in your brand-new stretchy pants and sarcastic tank top, pushing yourself to be a better and stronger you. I see you on social media with your new and updated profile picture, with your good hair day and picture-perfect makeup.

I see you … because I am you. I completely understand the I don’t need no man mantra that wars with the I just want to be in love and have a family wish.

You are not alone in this season. You are not the first girl to be the last of her friends to get married. You are not the first girl to eat a pint of ice cream because that boy you had a crush on forgot your name. You are not the first girl to get asked at every family event, Why don’t you have a boyfriend yet?

Only some will understand these experiences and challenges. Some may laugh at the reality of what we single women go through, but I am going to lay it out there. I want to open up my heart to you, my sweet single friend, and share my story and my life. I love the fact that you’re joining me on this journey. I know it is going to be beautiful.

—AP

Purpose

Dear Single Girl,

J ust for a moment, I want you to take a deep breath. Pause the anxiety, pause the worry, and pause the tears. That breath in your lungs, that calm sigh—that’s life, sister friend. Today, in this hour, you are alive. Your precious heart is beating, and your face is still capable of a smile. Wherever this chapter finds you, it’s found you alive. It’s found you for a purpose.

I’m a firm believer in purpose. Everything created on this earth carries a unique purpose. The Lord Jesus was intentional with His creation. Every living thing was designed to live a life specifically laid out for its kind. Everything without a heartbeat has an equally monumental role as well. The sun that wakes us up each morning greets us with an everlasting promise of faithfulness. The mighty trees in my front yard stand proud and tall, offering shade for us down below and a home for the creatures above. The purple Sharpie pen I am using right now to write you this letter is serving its purpose by putting what you need to hear onto this paper.

The list will continue on for ages, but in everything there is purpose. Behind this purpose is the Master Orchestrator and Chief Engineer of it all. I do not know where you land on the issue of the Almighty God, but I do know you need Him. If you know Him, you need Him. If you don’t know Him, you need Him. I know Him, but oh, how I need Him every hour. He is the source of my purpose. He is the fingerprint on everything I touch. He is the voice calling you from these pages. Without Him, I would have nothing of worth to offer you. So hear this now, sweet single girl. The God of this universe handcrafted that gentle heart of yours. He spent extra time molding it into a heart in need of great love. He designed your spirit to long for the purest of love stories. A love story that never ceases and carries you the rest of your life. That raw love story you crave can be yours to own. By the grace of Jesus Christ, your fragile heart can be whole. Just as He is the purpose, He is unfailing love Himself. He craves your heart and fights for your life. I pray this Jesus I write of is drawing you to Himself and to His cross. I pray that a divine revelation of your need for the Savior begins to blossom.

I say all of this because this is the truth. My life is forever marked by Jesus. My heart is forever taken by the King. I